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“Part of me says to let you go right now, to disappear for the rest of your trip and let you do what you need to do to write again.”

Absolute panic snaked through me and I did reach for him then, curling my fingers into the fabric of his shirt until I thought I heard it tear.

“Wolfe—”

“The other part of me doesn’t want to ever let you go.” He held me, arms curling loosely around my waist. “I want to keep you here with me for as long as I can. I am a selfish man.” Agonizing, this was agonizing. “To want something so bright, so…utterly beyond my reach but I…” He trailed off, bowing his head. “I want you too much. Tell me to let you go,” he pleaded. “Tell me to disappear, to let you live your life.”

I shook my head, tears spilling down my cheeks. “No.”

“Please, Avery. Send me away.”

“No.” I shook him. “No. I can’t—I won’t. Not when—” It was my turn to pause, to press my lips together. “Not when you’ve brought me back to life. Not when I’m—”

Wolfe stared at me, eyes wild and wide. “Say it. When you’re what?”

“When I’m already yours,” I admitted brokenly. “I think I was the moment I read your journals and found your picture. I think I knew it here.” I laid my hand over my heart.

He gathered me close, lips skirting down my temple, my cheek, down the length of my jaw. It was the most daring touch he’d ever given me and I clutched his shirt to keep myself up right.

“And I am yours, love. I belong to you, Avery Eden. In life and death and whatever comes after. My soul only knows your name.”

And it broke my heart to think that I was loving and losing all at the same time—that no matter what I did, no matter how tightly I held him—he would slip away all the same.

Chapter 24

Wolfe

He’d made a mess of things.

He didn’t mean to—truly.

But ever since the book club at Moira’s and listening to Avery’s book, he’d been unable to stop thinking about life, the heart trapped between here and the stone he was buried in.

She made him think.

Feel.

Want.

Christ, did he want.

He finished her book that night when she finally headed to bed, eyes rimmed in shadow. He’d hurt them both by speaking his truth. As much as it pained him to say it, he felt freed by it. He’d never allowed himself such a thing while he was alive, choosing instead to keep how he felt locked up tight.

There was a raw understanding between them now—that they each belonged to each other and realized it could not last.

He’d tried to brighten the mood the next day by saying, “So…the pool scene.”

She went scarlet, head dropped into her hands. He laughed, absolutely delighted by the sight of it.

It was certainly something to read. Harper perched on the lip of the pool, steam rising around her, Caden bowing between her legs, mouth hovering between her thighs.

He thought of the tub upstairs, the way the stone went all the way around the edge.

The position would certainly work.

“And the stairwell? My, my. I’m scandalized.”

This time she groaned, chucking her wadded up napkin at his face. He swatted it aside and it skittered across the floor.